Pentagon revises religious classifications amid backlash from LDS Church – USA Today

WASHINGTON – The Pentagon has revamped a list of religious faiths and traditions it uses to provide services to military members after Mormon Republican lawmakers blasted the agency for not classifying the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as Christian.
In a June 8 statement, the agency said the recent update to its categorization of religious affiliations “included redundant and unnecessary labeling.” The list, confirmed by the Pentagon last week, reduced the number of recognized faith codes from more than 200 to 30. Of the religions included, 21 were labeled “Christian.” The LDS Church was put in a separate category.
Utah Sens. Mike Lee and John Curtis and Rep. Mike Kennedy, all of whom are Mormon, excoriated the move on social media, calling it deeply offensive.
“The Pentagon’s decision to list the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints apart from other Christian faiths is wrong and needs to be corrected,” Kennedy wrote in a June 7 post.
Lee said in a June 8 social media post that he spoke with President Donald Trump about concerns with the characterization. Hours after Lee’s post, the Pentagon walked back its original decision, saying the “mistake has been fixed.”
However, it is not labeling the LDS Church as “Christian.” Instead, the agency is removing the “Christian” labeling from other religions. The updated list of recognized faiths also removed “Christian – Other.”
“The goal of this effort is to simplify a previously out-of-control ‘belief’ coding system that had ballooned to over 200 codes,” the Pentagon said in the statement.
Members of the LDS Church affirm they are Christian. However, according to the church’s website, some other Christian denominations, including evangelical groups, do not see the LDS Church as Christian and have described it as a cult.
Former Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, struggled during his 2008 and 2012 presidential runs to court evangelical Christians skeptical of his Mormon faith. One 2012 poll found that 23% of White evangelical voters were uncomfortable with Romney’s religion.
Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth attends a church affiliated with the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches, a conservative Reformed denomination whose theology differs sharply from that of the LDS Church.
Hegseth has worked to implement a number of changes at the Pentagon regarding religion. In March, he announced military chaplains would no longer wear their rank insignia and were instead ordered to display their religious insignia while retaining their rank as officers.
The agency’s reclassification of the LDS Church is part of a broader reorganization of its recognized religions. Hegseth ordered this latest move to streamline the number of religions in a May 20 memo sparking the controversy with the Mormon lawmakers.
The list includes 21 faith traditions classified as Christian and nine others, including Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism and the general category called “other religions.”
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell in his original statement said the changes were “not designed to make any claims on the legitimacy of any faith or religious belief,” or “provide a list of ‘officially approved.'” He said the Pentagon’s reduction of religious affiliations codes aimed at helping military chaplains “quickly look at the religious composition of their units” and determine how best to allocate resources.

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